At Legacy, we have had a very successful recycling program for many years now, which has been used as a model for other healthcare providers both here and nationally. Our program has been the only like it in the country for many years now until just last year when Providence modeled theirs after it.

We have evolved from being very active with recycling to looking at much broader impact issues, resource conservation, waste prevention, use of healthy and local food, partnering with others who share similar goals. It's a very exciting time to be in this field and see so many people in leadership roles, either within Legacy or in the community not only support sustainable practices but also embrace them.

As a health care provider, we see firsthand the impacts of pollution, poor dietary opportunities, etc. The health of our customers is our reason to exist and simply continuing to treat the symptoms rather than being part of the solution to change the underlying causes is short sighted. Health care has a unique role in promoting sustainable practices.

Sustainability is not just about being green but about making sure as a business you will be here in the future, so being green is now one of those key elements to being here in the future. Inexpensive high quality water, inexpensive sources of energy may not be available in such liberal amounts as we are used to today, in the future. To maintain a successful business model for the future, its important to keep abreast of changes in those areas and reducing demand is one way to impact it.